David Bowie Reflects On Ziggy Stardust In Animated Interview

In a resurfaced 1988 interview featured in PBS’ web series Blank On Blank this week, we get to hear David Bowie open up about his rise to stardom, creating his out-of-this-world character Ziggy Stardust and more with interviewer Joe Smith.

“I never really felt like a rock singer or a rock star. I always felt a little bit out of my element” David Bowie says in the animated interview. “Now from my standpoint when I look back, I realize from ’72 through to about ’76 I was the ultimate rock star. I couldn’t have been more rock star.”

Bowie goes on to explain creating his rock star alter ego Ziggy Stardust saying, “He was half out of sci-fi rock and half out of the Japanese theater. the clothes at that time, simply outrageous – nobody had seen anything like him before.”

Bowie touches on why his musical characters have a short life based on his desire to constantly evolve as an artist in order to avoid the “danger of getting into a rut” that so many in the creative arts fall in to. He goes on to talk about working with fellow artists Iggy Pop, Lou Reed and more later in the interview.